APEX Insight: At APEX MultiMedia Market in Paris this week, APEX Media met Molang and Piu Piu, characters from the popular non-dialogue animated series Molang, which is already showing on Air France, Emirates and Air Italy. We also spoke with Panasonic about how it’s shaking its “hardware systems provider” label with a broader service offering and with industry veteran Rick Warren, who attended the event for the first time this year.

Millimages is a leader in the European children’s entertainment industry, best known for its creative designs and high quality properties. At MMM 2018, they exhibited for the first time, bringing with them the adorable Molang and Piu Piu, who are characters from the wildly popular Molang animated series – produced right here in Paris. According to Lise Cosentino, Millimages’ Sales Manager, the non-dialogue series is already showing on Air France, Emirates and Air Italy. Millimages is a fully-integrated company with its own worldwide distribution, merchandising and digital divisions.

At Multimedia Market 2018, Dominic Green, Director of Media Services at Panasonic Avionics tells APEX Media: “We’re not seeking to become a CSP in the traditional sense, but we have a number of tools and opportunities at our disposal where we can offer a broader range of services than we’ve traditionally done.”

Rick Warren, 27-year IFE industry veteran, attended APEX Multimedia Market for the first time this year in Paris. He says the appointment-based format of the event really works and diversity of content available for airlines is great. Rick and his partner Kate Groth recently co-founded West Entertainment, a “boutique” content service provider based in Orange County, CA.